Retraction to: Basic Res Cardiol (2013) 108:318 DOI 10.1007/s00395-012-0318-9

The article “Postconditioning promotes the cardiac repair through balancing collagen degradation and synthesis after myocardial infarction in rats”, Basic Res Cardiol (2013) 108:318, was retracted by the authors who regret to have used different fields of the same samples for MMP staining and western blot assay to represent two distinct groups on two occasions in Figs. 4 and 5. Some of the raw data for the earlier experiments with the use of echocardiography for Figs. 8 and 9a were not available for further analysis to exclude that also the same samples were used for two distinct groups. The authors regret the effect of this action on the work of other investigators.